The case against the NCAA for "severely limiting the
salaries paid to certain assistant basketball coaches," was
featured in an extensive piece by Marcia Chambers in
Sunday's N.Y. TIMES. The suit has "resulted in a roughly"
$80M legal defeat, the "costliest such setback in the
organization's history." Chambers: "To its critics, the
N.C.A.A.'s mishandling of the coaches' case reflected some
of the wider, longstanding flaws of the organization --
institutional arrogance, questionable structuring of its
legal representation, anachronistic views of the college
sports industry -- and goes a long way toward explaining why
it has suffered a variety of defeats and come under
additional assaults." The NCAA has begun a "far-reaching
restructuring in governance," creating a new exec committee
to "establish budgets and set fundamental policies and
strategies." The NCAA has also hired its own in-house
lawyer to manage its legal affairs, "a practical move many
thought was overdue." NCAA President Cedric Dempsey said
that the coaches ruling is a "watershed experience for the
organization, forcing it to find another way of doing
business." Dempsey: "We will take a full-scale look at
every rule. We are willing to change" (N.Y. TIMES, 7/12).
